Craboleth?

Quick sketch of possible friends you may meet in the marsh.

Beach Head

Here is a little something I talked about in episode 90 of my podcast Random Encounters in the Library.

Drawlloween 2019 day 1

Day one is Vampire! Stay tuned for more!

Preview of next Saturday's episode

Unfortunately I'm not able to pick up the Doctor Who magazines from my local comics shop. Thankfully I work at a bookstore, when they do finally show up in the states I get a bit of a discount.

Finally, the issue with the new (to must of us anyways) pictures it's out. Saturday I'll guys about this, along with their Target books special. How you all can make it!

Pics of my FASA Doctor Who adventures

     Starting with Lords of Destiny, where the PC's lands their TARDIS on a world ship that is traveling faster than the speed of light. If they can't convince the "locals" to cooperate, the universe is in jeopardy. 

     Countdown has the PC's materializing on another spaceship, this one on a mission to deliver a vital serum to a plague ridden world. You need only look at the cover to realize who is going to spoil those plans.

     The Hartlewick Horror, by Ray Winninger, reportedly originally written for Call of Cthulhu. When it wasn't accepted by Chaosium, it was adapted to Doctor Who. It definitely fits, disappearing villagers, archaeological dig at a druidic mound, and unexplained energy fields. Very reminiscent of Image of the Fendahl.

     Then we come to The Warriors Code, the first one to be perfect bound (?) Where the others were stapled. The TARDIS is forced to materialize in feudal Japan after colliding with Time ship. A power play is occurring amongst the samurai and the PC's must navigate the politics in this land of the rising sun.

     More on these in the podcast, at https://anchor.fm/jim-yoder

Visual addendum for episode 62; my DW RPG collection.

FASA Part 1

The there main books from the box set, still in decent shape. Love them!

The only other FASA Doctor Who products I had ever seen on the shelf when the game was new!

I'll be back with the second half of my FASA stuff.

Names for old west saloons

     What I had hoped was just allergies has turned into a cold. Her is the list I mentioned on last night's podcast, apologies for the lateness.
1. Silver Spur
2. Cougar's Den
3. Schmitty's
4. Copper Penny
5. Cloven Hoof
6. One Eyed Jack's
Use it as a random table or inspiration for new names. I've got some more floating around, I might stick them into my zine. Have fun, and catch you all later.

Free RPG Day 2019, request for opinions

     So, this year's Free RPG Day was a bit of a bust. I had decided not to run a game and enjoy the Father's Day weekend. My flgs unfortunately was unable to get in on it (apparently it was sold out) and therefore I went to a store that was thirty minutes away, which could have been worse. I had been wanting to have this place as a secondary location for running DCC, so when I got there I asked how they handled people running RPG's. By the way, this is Java Game Haus at 11018 Old St Augustine Rd #103, Jacksonville, FL 32257. For running a game, you pay nothing, get a 20% discount, and recieve one dollar per player. To play, you pay five dollars and get a 15% discount. So what I would like to know is, what are your feelings/opinions on this? I'm torn because not everybody I know has a fiver to toss on playing a game. Does this encourage hot dogging GM's trying to outdo themselves and each other, in order to get players? I could come up with different extremes, but you get the point.

     So for the free part of Saturday, they had a table that I rolled on to determine what I got, and I rolled a one. *Hah* I had a choice between the Pathfinder adventure or a Starfinder die. I chose the die, which you see above hiding behind the D30 I purchased. I asked about the DCC quickstart, and was told they were for the people playing in the adventure/demo later. I would have jumped in on that game, but like I mentioned before I had made other plans. So on one hand I was a bit disappointed to not have it in my hands but then if there were people turning up for a DCC game then I should be alright getting players.

     Which brings me back to you guys, please let me know what you all think of this set up. I am seriously on the fence. Thanks for reading and take care!

Updates, May 29th

     Here we are, two novels read and working on the third in regards to mining literature for game ideas. My podcast on reading Don Rodriguez can be found here! I originally hesitated doing an actual Appendix N author, but the it isn't the first one that comes to mind when someone says Dunsany and Appendix N. I just couldn't resist. Apologies if I have stolen anyone's thunder.

Work continues on updating and streamlining my GM's notebook. Currently looking at having random on my tablet, and game specific tables printed and/or written. I like to have stats for creatures and NPC's written on index cards (when running a published adventure) so that I may switch pages without worrying that I lose track of them. I also do this with equipment and magic items, so that once they figure out what they are and how they work, I can just hand them the index card. I will keep you all updated. Take care, and thanks for stopping by!

Dark Trails Steam Train!!

     Dave Baity's Weird West juggernaut, Dark Trails, blasted it's way out of the gate and he's shocked but grateful at how well it's been received. He recently had a guest spot on Glowburn that you can catch here, and I am sure he'll be popping in other podcasts as well. The next stretch goal, I believe is an additional adventure penned by the daring Daniel Bishop. In addition to Kickstarter stretch goals, Dave has merch in the form of t-shirts, dice and can coozies. These may be sold out by the time you read this but rest assured that there will be more on the way.

     In the future, I will be looking for plot hooks for Dark Trails and returning here (and my anchorcast here) feel free to leave comments and questions. Thanks for checking this stuff out and take care!

Updating my GM notebook

     Some time ago, I watched/listened to Glenn Hallstrom explain how he put his GM notebook together. Basically it is a place to put any important tables and lists you may need, as well as holding dice, index cards or whatever ephemera you can fit in there. Here is mine, of course I picked pale blue.

With my dog for contrast

     I have some pregens stuck in the front pocket, index cards and extra pencils (and a couple of dry erase markers) in the pouch.

     From there it gets a bit chaotic, I have plastic sleeves to protect papers from wear and I can use the dry erase markers to make notes. I need to go back through and organize/swap out the pages.

     It starts off with dungeon/ruin environmental hazards, a few more ruins related pages (from Aeons n Auguries) as well as page on generating random terrain. Then some d30 random tables (courtesy of New Big Dragon Games) and then it descends into several bits and bobs including the Labyrinth Lord equipment table and copy of the YE Fast Pack page from B4 Lost City. At the end, we have my copy of Everyone Everywhere and Shady Dragon Inn.

     What happens is I end up not using it, so my new goal is to take it apart and put it back together so that it has an ease of use. Anyone out there have their own GM notebook, or your own idea of what it should contain? Leave a comment below and we'll see what we can come up with.

Deathworld! (and game inspiration in literature)

     So later on my anchorcast, I will be talking about finding inspiration for your games using Deathworld (by Harry Harrison) as an example. First I want you to see the cover.

     The art is by Richard Corben of Heavy Metal magazine fame, the book is a collection from 1968 (original story was released in 1960). I recommend this series if you want adventure without over thinking the plot. I will be back later, hopefully tomorrow, with  stats and expanded thoughts.

     The big thing that needs sorted out is what story to try out next? I have have a plethora of titles to choose from, though many are Appendix N and those are being covered already. Maybe I will check and see what folks thinks. In the meantime, feel free to leave comments and thanks for checking my blog out!

I have a Podcast! (plus my top 3 fave dice)

    And just like that, he had no more need for a blog. Wait a mo, I still do. My anchorcast (as I prefer to say) is my thoughts on different things game and book related, but my blog can show you things. Oh, we have such sights to show you! This will operate in concert with the 'cast so that you can see some of the stuff I talk about. To start off...

Top 3 Fave Dice!!!

Coming in at number 3, we have the amazing D30!! This is my favorite of mine with it's red translucence (and a slight cream swirl that you can't see in this pic) and gold numbering. My others are serviceable Impact d30's but some day I wish to own an Armory or Game Science one.

Number 2 is my big old D20!! Here is a pic for size comparison.

If I am not gentle rolling it, there can be a lot of noise. I mainly use it when I am running games, and sometimes it will start rolling high. Therefore I like to swap between this and my most favorite...

... is Game Science dice! The solids, translucent, and transparent lines. The crisp edges and corners and the fantastic Col. Lou Zocchi is such a wonderful character that it is just nice to say hello and strike up a conversation. The dice though, the dice are just amazing!! Here is a link to check it out!

     I am hoping to operated to operate this in tandem with my anchorcast to provide a complete experience. well, as complete as this can get. You can find my 'cast on Pocket Casts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more, as well as good old Anchor. The cool thing about Anchor is the ability to leave voice message with other Anchorites.

     I am going to leave that there, if you have any questions feel free to leave my a message. I hope to hear from you all soon!